Melbourne Victory have now played two reverse fixtures in the league with varied results, but this week’s match-up against Western Sydney Wanderers will serve as a true measure of the improvement of this young side.
Away in Perth a fortnight ago, the Victory managed to rid the demons of an opening day 2-1 loss to the Glory, by claiming their first win of the season, with a 3-1 scoreline.
Last week was a different story, as they fell 4-0 to Melbourne City, however their measure of performance across the two Melbourne Derby’s has to be done with playing staff taken into account.
In the first match up – a 2-1 loss – they were facing a considerably depleted City line-up, which featured only five starting players (Aivi Luik, Trudy Burke, Laura Alleway, Rebekah Stott and Marianna Tabain) that featured in the rout last weekend.
So with two contrasting results, will the Victory pass their test against the Wanderers, who they lost to 3-1 in Round Five?
Since then, Western Sydney have gone winless, with a bye, a 4-1 loss to Canberra United and a 2-2 draw against Sydney FC in the derby last week.
Selection News
Hayley Raso comes back into the side after missing a week through injury, with Enza Barilla likewise earning a promotion after fully recovering from her ailment.
Out in their place comes Cindy Lay, after earning starts through midfield over the past month, as well as another omission yet to be named from the squad.
With another week of training behind her, expect Gulcan Koca to be a likely candidate for a start in defence, having made a successful return off the substitute bench last week.
If she does return to the line-up, that could free up Jamie Pollock for a return to midfield, and with the return of Barilla as well, suddenly a wealth of midfield options become available for Dave Edmondson.
Nairn could be released in a free role behind the striker, with Barilla and Pollock shielding behind, or the other possibility is Barilla out to the left flank, with MelindaJ Barbieri retained in the shadow striker role.
Laura Spiranovic and Selin Kuralay of course both miss with season ending injuries.
Melbourne Victory squad: 20. Melissa Barbieri (GK, c), 2. Alexandra Natoli, 4. Melissa Taranto, 5. Briar Palmer, 6. Annabel Martin, 7. Enza Barilla, 8. Jamie Pollock, 10. Christine Nairn, 11. MelindaJ Barbieri, 12. Whitney Knight, 15. Adriana Taranto, 16. Hayley Raso, 13. Thea Slatyer, 16. Gulcan Koca, 1. Cassandra Dimovski (GK), 27. Natasha Dowie
Key Players
Gulcan Koca
Koca looks a likely candidate to take up a role in defence, after a successful return last week and another week on the track. Her inclusion will most likely see a return to midfield for American Jamie Pollock, who’s deputised at centre-half for the last few weeks. Koca will bring experience as well as mobility to the backline, which should compliment Thea Slatyer well.
Natasha Dowie
The guest signing for the Victory will have to be on her game should the Victory plan on taking anything out of this fixture. In the absence of Spiranovic, the Englishwoman will be heavily relied on to both create and finish opportunities. She’ll have to also be wary of the attacking threat young centre-back Ellie Carpenter poses, after she created a lovely goal against the Victory earlier in the season.
Predicted Line-up
Substitutes: Dimovski (GK), M. Taranto, Palmer, Knight
Predicted Score
The Victory will have to battle hard to trump the Wanderers, despite their poor form of late. A win would be a huge confidence boost for this young side, but any result would mean the world to the players. 1-1 draw